Georgia “big supporter” of peace deal between Azerbaijan, Armenia - Parliamentary Committee Chair
Nikoloz Samkharadze on Friday commented on Georgia’s efforts to mediate peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia. Photo: Nikoloz Samkharadze’s Twitter
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Nikoloz Samkharadze, the Chair of the Foreign Relations Committee in the Georgian Parliament, on Friday said Tbilisi had “great desire” for the “friendly and neighbouring” countries of Armenia and Azerbaijan to sign a peace deal in their long-running conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region.
In his press comments amid the ongoing Tbilisi Silk Road Forum, which the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Thursday opened along with his Azerbaijani, Armenian and Montenegrin counterparts, the lawmaker said such a deal would benefit the “whole South Caucasus region”.
Reiterating the stance of the PM and his office to facilitate peace talks between the two states, Samkharadze claimed “Georgia is probably the only country in the world that has equal trust from both Armenia and Azerbaijan”.
Thus, Tbilisi is naturally the place where peace talks can be held and see their successful completion. [The Government and the PM] will spare no efforts to make this historical event happen in Tbilisi”, the MP said, and added Garibashvili had been “actively engaged” in the process, and the “first, positive signs” had “already been observed”.
The head of the Georgian Government has previously expressed his “readiness” to mediate the peace talks, including comments at the Forum where he said he was ready to “personally and through my office” facilitate such negotiations.
Azerbaijani Prime Minister Ali Asadov on Friday acknowledged talks for peace and development in the South Caucasus region organised by the Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili at the ongoing Tbilisi Silk Road Forum.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Friday said Tbilisi, as an “impartial mediator” between the neighbouring Azerbaijan and Armenia in their long-running conflict over the Nagorno-Karabakh region, was interested in ensuring a “lasting peace” in the South Caucasus.
Dritan Abazović, the Prime Minister of Montenegro, on Thursday congratulated his Georgian counterpart Irakli Garibashvili for bringing together the Prime Ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia at the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum.
Nikol Pashinyan, the Armenian Prime Minister, highlighted the importance of peace at the ongoing Tbilisi Silk Road Forum by stressing it would be “very complicated to build any bridge” without it, and adding the South Caucasus region was in need of a “lasting peace”.
Archil Talakvadze, the Georgian Parliament’s Vice Speaker, on Sunday highlighted the importance of the meeting of the prime ministers of Azerbaijan and Armenia on the sidelines of the Tbilisi Silk Road Forum last week.
Irakli Chikovani, an MP from the ruling Georgian Dream party, on Sunday said the country’s role as a regional mediator had been “strengthened” during the term of Irakli Garibashvili as the Prime Minister.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili and Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev on Friday hailed the “centuries-old” neighbourly relations between their countries in a meeting held during the Economic Forum of the United Nations Special Programme for the Economies of Central Asia running in Baku, Azerbaijan.